Nightmares
by Sivol
Summary: Reid is plagued by nightmares from a recent trauma, and surprisingly, it isn't Morgan who comforts him while out on a case. Slash, A/U  '100' never happened , Kind of OOC-everybody.


**Warnings: **A/U Episode '100' never happened. Slash. Hurt/Comfort. Major fluff near the end.

_**A/N: **_Sorry to those who are waiting on chapter 10 of Fabrications. It will be out soon! I hope. I promise I haven't abandoned it.

**(¯`·. CM .·´¯)**

After they had been briefed on the case which had been faxed just minutes prior, the BAU made their way to Vicksburg Nebraska. The team spoke with the authorities overseeing the case and got to work immediately. It was nearly eighteen hours into the day before they were able to go to the hotel they'd booked rooms at.

Of course, as we all know, in situations where you really would prefer to have a room all to yourself, the hotel only had two rooms available. One with two double beds and a couch, and one with only one double bed, no couch. Standing outside of the rooms, Hotch called their attention. "Alright how are we going to do this?"

"I can bunk with Prentiss." JJ offered.

Emily nodded. "Yeah, I can deal with that."

"Okay, so the girls get the one double." Hotch said, handing a key to JJ. "Come on, lets figure out how this is supposed to work." He stated, opening up the other room.

Morgan looked around and nodded to himself. "I'll take the couch." He stated simply, tossing his go bag to said piece of furniture.

Reid was kind of hoping that Morgan would have demanded a bed so he could bunk with him, but he knew better than that, as the other man never shared a bed with anybody that wasn't Garcia. He sighed and went to the closet, pulling out some blankets and a few pillows, then made himself a nest off near a wall. "What are you doing kid?" Rossi asked.

"Sleeping on the floor." He stated as if it were obvious.

"Yeah I can see that, but why? There's enough room for you in one of the beds depending on who bunks with who."

"I know, but if I sleep on the floor, then nobody has to feel uncomfortable about bunking with someone else. Don't worry about it, I know the three best positions for sleep on a hard surface that won't leave me aching in the morning." He tried with a small smile.

"Well okay then. Have fun." Rossi said. He preferred having a bed all to himself at night.

"Oh for the love of... Reid, get up here." Hotch demanded, pulling down the cover on the bed he had claimed. "You are not sleeping on the floor."

Spencer fought furiously not to smile, blush, or otherwise indicate just what he thought of being invited into the man's bed. As he walked by Rossi, he could have swore he saw the older man send him a wink. What was that about? Oh god, did he know? "Thank you Sir."

"Don't mention it. Alright, get changed for bed, it's nearly 1 already." Hotch said, ruffling through his go bag for some night clothes.

Reid was the first to go change, and Morgan went over to Hotch. "Hey look man, Reid's got some pretty bad nightmares, I'm talking to the point that he rarely gets over 4 hours of sleep a night, and he needs all the sleep he can get. If he wakes you up tossing and turning, try not to wake him up, but if he starts crying out in his sleep, wake him as quick as you can."

Aaron nodded shortly to the man to show he understood. He was beginning to worry about the young genius. Lately, as in the last work week, he showed an abrupt change in attitude, he was withdrawn, he was avoiding physical contact... it was odd. Now he found out that the young man was having nightmares that bad as well. What happened?

**(¯`·. CM .·´¯)**

Rossi was the first one awake that morning, just before 4:30 am. He glared at the clock and looked around, silently demanding to know what had woken him up this damn early. That was when he heard a whimpering sound coming from the other bed. He dropped his head to the pillow behind him and sighed. Really, he knew the kid liked Hotch, that was why he didn't offer his own bed for him, but damn, did he have to make a move with an audience?

Another whimper sounded out, and what sounded like the word, 'no'. Rossi frowned and propped himself up on his elbows, glancing over to the other bed. Well, Hotch looked like he was definitely asleep, so there was no way boy genius was making any moves, so what was that noise about? He waited for another few minutes, and sure enough, more noise.

"No please don't!" Reid begged, clutching the sheet around him like a life-line.

"Hotch." Rossi called. "Hotch!"

"Hmm wha?" Aaron asked, barely lifting his head.

"Something's wrong with the kid." Rossi told him.

Hotch, who was laying on his stomach, pushed his body up and leaned on his arms. He glanced over to the right and saw that Rossi was definitely right. Something was wrong. Reid was laying there, his face scrunched up in what looked like a mixture of fear and resignation, hanging on to the sheet for dear life, and shaking his head.

The older man blinked sleepily and remembered Morgan telling him not to wake him up unless he started crying out. "Go back to sleep." He told David, while unceremoniously flopping back down to his pillow.

It wasn't three minutes later before Reid was calling out, saying, "No, no, go away, stop, don't, please!" Over and over in various sequences. Hotch lifted his head and stared for a moment, and when he saw tears on the young man's face, he snapped up and started shaking the sleeping man.

"Reid, wake up, come on. You're having a nightmare."

"No let me go!" Reid called out, shying away from him.

The commotion jolted Rossi and woke Morgan as well, both sleepily looking over to the source of the noise.

Hotch tried again. "Wake up Reid." He said, shaking the man again.

"No don't shake him!" Morgan yelled... It was too late though.

The combination of the voices, one speaking one yelling, and the hand shaking his arm sent Reid to the floor and he quickly scrambled into the nearest corner, pulling his legs up on himself and staring off into nothing.

"Reid?" Hotch asked slightly confused. He scooted over to the other side of the bed and reached out, but was stopped by a rather strong hand pulling him back.

Morgan was reaching across the bed and pulling Hotch backwards. "Don't shake him when you're trying to wake him up, it'll just upset him more. I made that mistake Sunday and wound up having to dump him in the tub before he came back to his senses. Let him ride it out, but keep talking. It doesn't matter what you say, just keep your voice calm and he'll be back to normal real soon."

"What's wrong with him?" Rossi asked, sitting up in his bed. He might as well stay awake, it looked like nobody was going to get any more sleep.

"I can't tell you that because it's not mine to tell and I am not gonna break his confidence like that. If he wants to tell you, fine, if not, don't push it." Morgan told them, sitting back against the foot-board of the bed.

"Is it something that, in your professional opinion, will affect his work?" Hotch asked seriously.

"If it were anybody but him, I'd say yes, but he's managed to find a way to completely ignore those memories when he's at work. It only gets to him like this when he sleeps and when he's at home. This will not affect his work."

"I'll hold you to that." Hotch stated.

"Derek?" Reid called out glancing around.

"Hey there. Welcome back to the land of the living." Morgan said with a tiny smile.

Reid blinked and looked around, noticing that Hotch and Rossi were staring at him as well. "I woke everybody up." He stated. "I'm sorry."

"It's not a big deal kid. Why don't you untangle yourself and I'll make you some coffee, eh? You can have my sugar packets."

"I... I'd like that... thank you." The young man said, letting his legs fall out in front of him. "What was I saying?"

"I don't know." Morgan said from the coffee pot on the sink's counter. "I woke up last."

Reid glanced to Hotch looking for answers. "You said to go away and let you go."

"Several accounts of 'no', 'please', and 'don't'." Rossi offered.

Reid sighed and let his head hang. "This is why I should have slept on the floor, then maybe I wouldn't have woken anyone up."

"Kid you were yelling, I think we would have woken up anyway." Morgan told him, heading back to his seat. "Coffee will be on in five."

A knocking came to the door and Rossi went to open it. Emily's voice came through. "Hey is everything alright? We heard yelling." She said, her hand on her gun just in case.

Rossi smirked and opened the door wider so she could see. "It's fine, don't worry. Go back to your room and try to get some sleep, we'll try to keep it down." He told her, much to Reid's relief. She nodded and went back, while he closed the door.

"Was it necessary to lie?" Hotch asked.

"I wasn't lying, I was omitting the truth. There's a difference." Rossi commented. "And think of it this way. If it had been you, would you want me telling her what happened? I understand that nightmares aren't exactly some huge secret that needs keeping, but you gotta admit, it is kind of embarrassing when you wake up like that."

Reid gave a dry laugh. "I don't know whether to be thankful or irritated at that assessment." He stated.

Hotch just nodded his understanding and leaned back on to the headboard. Rossi decided it was time for some conversation. "So Hotch, how's Jack?"

"He's doing good. Loves school, wants to be an officer when he grows up, or so he says. I'm assuming he'll change his mind at least 30 more times between now and then."

"Yeah, kids are fickle like that. You got anything planned for the weekend if we get back in time?"

"Nope. I fully intend on laying around the house, not doing a damn thing." Hotch commented with a small satisfied smile.

Reid jumped lightly when Morgan got his attention. "Relax kid, it's just coffee. Four sugars."

"Sorry." He mumbled. Geeze there was no way in hell Hotch was going to look at him as anything less than a kid now. "Did anyone bring any books?" The others shook their head negatively and Reid gave a sigh. He turned his attention to his drink and made a face. "Tell me there's more sugar."

"You can have one of my packets, I normally only take one." Rossi offered.

"If that's not enough, one of mine too." Hotch stated.

"Thanks." Reid commented, going over to the coffee maker and taking two more sugars. He tasted the drink again. "That's better."

**(¯`·. CM .·´¯)**

Ugh the day just wore on and on and on. From waking up so early, to dealing with a police force that made it clear they didn't want the FBI there, to coming up on another body, to combing over crime scenes and witnesses. It was only the second day there, and already Hotch wanted a break. The team was looking a bit down as well, and he really couldn't blame them considering the latest murder was show just for them.

"Hey Morgan, you drive the rest of the team back to the hotel, okay? I need to pick up something. Have them all meet in our room." Hotch told the man, receiving an affirmative nod.

JJ, Prentiss, and Reid were sitting on one of the beds, Reid squished in between the two women who were having far too much fun asking him intimate and personal questions. Rossi was laying on 'his' bed, and Morgan on the couch with Garcia on speaker. They all, sans Garcia, looked up when Hotch came in to the room.

"Pizza!" Prentiss and JJ shouted, causing Reid to cover his ears.

"Pizza? Hotch brought you guys pizza?" Penelope asked.

"Looks like baby girl." Morgan commented.

"Oh that is so not fair." She grumbled.

"I figured we could all use a little pick-me-up. There's one veggie supreme."

"Oh gimmie gimmie." JJ said, holding out her hands. Emily helped herself to the box, which they had placed on Reid's lap.

"One meat supreme."

"Over here." Rossi stated, holding out one of his hands while Morgan went over to share.

"And one double cheese."

Reid eyed the last box and picked up the one in his lap. He sat it down in his spot, and the girls continued to ravage it. Seemed Emily was already on her second slice. Reid took the last box off of Hotch's hands and sat it on the counter. He got out a few paper towels and carefully picked up one slice. "Does anyone happen to have any ranch or mustard?" He asked.

A few groans and several ews where heard. "I don't think that's something that most of us carry with us." Rossi offered, while Hotch took some paper towels of his own and got a slice of the cheese pizza.

"I didn't know you preferred just cheese." Reid commented.

"Yeah, it's the only kind I'll eat."

Reid nodded, stopping himself from spouting off a statistic about pizza toppings and personality types. This was a time to unwind, he didn't need to ruin it by being... well... him. He went to the couch and curled his legs up underneath him where he sat silently, eating and listening to the various conversations going on. Eventually, when he was finished with his slice and debating on going back for a second, Morgan came over with two and handed one to the young genius. "What's got you so down in the dumps?"

"Just thinking about how incredibly unlikely it is that I would get what I want." Reid commented. "Thanks by the way." He said, holding up the second slice and munching on it while picking off the meat and piling on Morgan's slice.

"What you want wouldn't happen to be tall dark and broody, would he?"

Reid's eyes widened. "How'd you know?"

"Come on kid, it's not that hard to figure out. You've been staring at him for a month, and the guy last week... he looked somewhat like him."

Reid shivered lightly. "I'd rather not talk about what happened last week."

"You're gonna have to at one point or another. You need to get it off your chest, and I think it might help with the nightmares."

"But _you _already know, you stopped it. You saw enough to be able to tell what was going on, there's nothing I could tell you that you don't already know."

"Yeah, that might be true, but I still think that talking about it would give you a release of some sort." Morgan said with a sympathetic look.

Reid sighed. "You aren't going to let me just ignore it, are you?"

"Afraid not, pretty boy."

The young man lifted his head a bit and looked around. The others were completely wrapped up in their own conversations, so he decided he could part with a little bit now. "I think that I had never been happier you came over when I was supposed to not be home. If you hadn't have shown up, I might have been tied up for days. I still can't believe that happened though, I ran a background check on him before we ever met, I made sure to not let him know where I lived, but he knew anyway. I can only assume he looked me up and my address was on one of those public record sites."

Morgan wrapped him up in a hug. "Don't you worry kid. He's gone and he ain't never coming back, I made sure of that."

"What did you tell the police?" Reid whispered.

"I told them the truth."

Another shiver passed through the young man. "At least I don't have to testify."

"Yeah, it would be kind of hard for him to try and plead anything when he's missing half his head." Morgan said with a tiny bit of morbid amusement.

Reid looked up and him and smiled lightly. "Actually it's more like an eighth of a head. That's another thing. I don't think I've ever been happier that you killed someone before."

"Me either kid. Me either."

"Awwww." Emily said, breaking up their moment. "Is there something you wanna tell us you two?" She teased.

Reid blushed and quickly looked down while Morgan tilted his head at her and let his arms fall back to his side. "Yeah, we're secret kinky lovers and I'm the Dom."

"Derek!" Reid cried out, an astonished look on his face.

"I want pictures!" Garcia demanded loudly from the phone laying on Rossi's bed. The room broke into stifled giggles.

"I can't believe you said that!" Reid whispered, disbelief clearly written all over his face.

"Yeah, but it was better than letting them know what we were talking about, eh?"

Reid agreed, then loudly announced. "He is _not _my Dom." He stated, crossing his arms over his chest defensively. "If anything, I'm the Dom." The giggles erupted into full blown laughter and Reid gave his first, albeit small, genuine smile since the Saturday before.

**(¯`·. CM .·´¯)**

The second night went much like the first, Reid having a nightmare and winding up huddled into a corner. Rossi was more curious than anything as to what was going on, but Hotch was down right worried, not that you'd be able to tell unless you were part of his team and had known him for years.

The third day the unsub killed two people, one police officer and one that matched his victimology. With the officer, he left a note... carved in to her stomach. It was simply a name, that in any other case, would never have made sense. But in this case, with these people, it made too much sense. It was, 'Derek'.

That day they gave the final profile and suggested that the unsub was someone who knew the case well enough to know the first names of the FBI agents, most likely a cop. They only gave this profile to the person who requested them, a Mrs. Shadowick.

The third night went smoothly, or as smoothly as one would expect. Reid was the first to wake, around 3 am, and he briefly wondered why he hadn't woken up in a nightmare as he had done the nights before. He blinked the sleep from his eyes and shifted, immediately becoming aware of a weight on his chest. Oh... Oh dear. Hotch had wrapped his arm around the young man at some point during the night. Well, if he moved, he risked waking the other man up, and he would likely be embarrassed that such a thing would happen. If he pretended to be asleep until Aaron woke up, he could be there for who knows how long. Maybe if he pretended to have a nightmare the other man would shift... No that would be cruel, he couldn't do that. What to do, what to do...

Hotch's arm tightened a bit and Reid was surprised at the strength of the other man, as he was bodily shifted more towards him. Perhaps he was simply too thin... He tried to pry the arm off of his chest and winced when he realized Hotch was waking up.

"Mmmf. Stop it." Hotch demanded lowly in a scratchy, sleep filled voice.

Reid didn't know what to do or say. Was he awake? Was he talking in his sleep?

Hotch lifted his head at the young man, his eyes still closed. "Are you havin' a nightmare?"

"Uhh, no?" Reid answered questioningly.

"Mmm." Hotch stated shortly, letting his head fall back to the pillow. "Morgan s'right."

"About what?" Reid wondered aloud.

"He said that sometimes physical contact helps keep nightmares from happening to begin with." Rossi's sleepy voice called out.

"What he said." Hotch stated, shifting a bit. "Go back t'sleep."

"I uhh... I need to use the restroom."

"Mmmf." Hotch said, sliding his arm away, releasing the young man from the hold.

Once Reid had made it to the bathroom, he locked it behind him and nearly broke down. He wound up sitting on the floor, his hands fisted in his hair and a bewildered look on his face. Well, he had gotten one of the things he'd been wishing would happen for the last month and a half. He'd woken up in Hotch's arms... kind of. But the situation surrounding it couldn't have been worse.

A knocking on the door stirred him from his thoughts, which were getting progressively more self-depreciating and incredibly unrealistic. He stood and opened the door, surprised to find Dave standing there. "Hey kid, get back to bed and try to get some more sleep. You need it." He whispered, then did an about face and returned to his own bed. Reid did his business and washed his hands, returning to the bed and curling up as near to the wall as he could.

You can imagine his astonishment when an arm sought him out again and pulled him back once more. "Sleep." Hotch demanded. Somehow, Reid drifted off once more, feeling... different... but in a good way, or at least he thought so.

It also came as quite a surprise when he was awoken around 5:30 am by Morgan and Rossi snickering. He jumped lightly when he heard and felt Hotch's chest rumbling. "If you post those pictures anywhere online, you'll be demoted to janitors, both of you."

"What pictures?" Reid asked, noting that he still had an arm around him, and wondering what in the world was going on.

"Pictures Morgan decided to snap of us while we were asleep with his phone. Which he so kindly shared with Rossi." Hotch explained. They both heard another clicking sound. "I swear to god Morgan, you're going on the worst job I can think of today." He stated.

"He hates sifting through tips from the tip lines." Reid offered.

"Hey now, that's not fair. You just earned yourself another picture, this time without the blanket." Morgan stated, snatching the blanket that Reid was using away and snapping another picture.

"I might be scared of that if I didn't know that Hotch did actually have the ability to demote you to a janitor." Reid stated, groggily sitting up and making his way to the coffee machine. "Thanks whoever made coffee."

"You're welcome." Rossi took the credit.

"You got to admit though, they do look cute like that, don't they?" Morgan teased, showing his phone to Rossi.

Reid's face flushed crimson and he lowered it, letting his hair fall over his face. Just keep adding sugar. Don't let them get to you.

"Whoa whoa, go back one... Ha, look at that!" Rossi stated, pointing his finger to the screen on the phone.

Morgan's eyes lit up. "I didn't even notice that! Oh this is nice. Penelope will love this."

"What?" Reid demanded.

Derek smirked and tossed the young man his phone. About four seconds later, Spencer squeaked. "How do you delete pictures on this thing? I knew I should have read your phone's manual!"

"What is it?" Hotch asked, unsure if he really wanted to know.

"You don't want to know." Reid stated, effectively deleting it and tossing the thing back to Morgan.

"At some point during the night your hands got kinda, I dunno, woven together. Like this." Rossi stated, demonstrating awkwardly with his own hands.

Hotch raised an eyebrow. "Get a grip." He stated, grabbing some clothes from his go-bag and heading to the bathroom. "It wasn't even like that and you know it."

Reid stared into his coffee, sugared up quite a bit. He'd grabbed a box of small sugar packets yesterday for such an occasion. Letting out a sigh, the young man swirled the drink around in its cup, staring into it for a good minute before Morgan caught his attention. "What's wrong?" He asked.

"He's right. It wasn't even like that and I know it." Reid commented lowly with a grim look. "I'm gonna go wake up the girls."

The front door shut just a bit louder than necessary and Morgan sighed. "You know," Rossi commented. "sometimes I think that gay guys, are worse than PMSing women at misinterpreting things."

Morgan let out a dry laugh. "Yeah, I think you're right."

**(¯`·. CM .·´¯)**

The fourth day they finally caught the unsub. Carl Aubiel, one of the cops that protested the loudest to the FBI's involvement. When asked why, his response was a deceptively innocent smile and a simple, 'because I can'. Unfortunately, it was rounding on 10 in the evening when they had finished with the case, and the pilot for their jet demanded sleep. Ah well, it seemed they were there for another night in the hotel. At least it was on the bureau's dime and not theirs.

Reid was, as per the usual lately, the first one in bed. Actually, tonight, he was the first one back at the hotel, everyone else had gone out for a late dinner at IHOP. Of course, again as per the usual, Hotch didn't stay the entire time, and wound up back at the hotel rather quickly. He had assumed that Reid had went off somewhere, and did not expect him to be curled up under the mussed up covers on the bed, so imagine his concern when he saw movement from beneath the covers.

With a hand on his gun ready to draw at any second, he ripped away the blanket and gave a sigh of relief when Reid's arm shot out trying to relocate it. The half asleep genius lifted his head a bit. "Where's the cover?" He demanded most irritably.

"Sorry, I wasn't expecting you back this early." Hotch commented, tossing the blanket back to the sleepy form. He lay his gun and credentials on the table beside Reid's and quickly went to get changed. When he came back, he climbed in to bed.

Reid was already off in dream land by the time Hotch returned, so the older man simply turned off the light and hoped that when Morgan and Rossi came back in, they would be quiet. "Hey Hotch?" Well, it looked like Reid wasn't asleep after all.

"Yeah?"

"Why did you do that last night?"

"Do what?"

"Put your arm around me."

"Because Morgan said that physical contact sometimes helped with the nightmares, especially with you."

"I would have assumed that you would have just had him do that."

Hotch raised an eyebrow, not that the other man could see it. "I didn't see the point when I was already here and you were in the throws of a nightmare."

Spencer shifted a bit. "I was having a nightmare?"

"Yeah. Woke us all up. It sounded pretty bad, like you were fighting someone off. Morgan said not to shake you though, thought that was kind of odd."

The young man gave a sigh. "I didn't say anything, did I?"

"Just the same things you've been saying the last few nights. 'No', 'get off', 'stop', and the like."

"I'm surprised you haven't requested some sort of evaluation for me."

"Morgan assured me that you were dealing with it on your own and was able to completely ignore whatever it was that has you so frightened at night while you are at work. I see no point in making you go through whatever it was more when you obviously haven't let it impact your job performance."

Reid shifted again and turned to face Hotch. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." The older man said with a hint of a barely there smile.

"I'm sorry you got stuck with me."

"I didn't get stuck with you. I offered because I didn't want you sleeping on the floor."

"And you would have offered to any of the team." Reid said with a sad tone.

"Actually no. I wouldn't have offered for Rossi. He likes to grope anything that breathes when he's asleep, and I don't quite fancy waking up to Dave's hand on my ass." Reid quickly covered his mouth and laughed. "I also wouldn't have offered to Prentiss. Those who sleep next to her have a habit of waking up with pen marks on their face, or worse, makeup. Not to mention Morgan refuses to sleep beside anyone, so there would have been no point there. No, the only ones I would have offered for are you and JJ."

Reid smiled gratefully. That was something he was quite happy to hear. He turned back over and buried his face into his pillow, successfully falling asleep. Hotch watched the young man for a good 20 minutes before shaking his head silently to himself. "Sleep well." He whispered, closing his eyes just as the door opened.

"Aww, lookit, the lovebirds are asleep." Morgan commented. Hotch cracked one eye open. At least he was facing away from the door. Lovebirds?

"Do you think he knows yet?" Rossi asked.

"I dunno man. Knowing Reid, Hotch may never know. Hell I don't even know how you know." What in the world were they talking about? "He's the only one I've ever known able to keep a secret from this team." Morgan stated.

"I really wanna know what happened to him to make him withdraw like he has the past week." Rossi said with a sigh.

"I told you before, I ain't gonna break his trust like that. If he wants you to know, he'll tell you." Morgan repeated.

"I know I know. I just wish he trusted us enough to tell us."

"It ain't about trust. He does trust you all."

"Yeah, but not as much as you."

"It ain't even like that man. He wouldn't have told me if he had any control over it."

Rossi narrowed his eyes at the young man and his tone became threatening. "Are you saying that you forced it out of him?"

"Hell naw." Morgan said, slightly affronted. "I was the one who stopped what was happening. Look, I've already said too much, just stop asking about it, okay?"

"Alright, I'll take that. I'm sorry I got snappy, I just really worry about the kid." Rossi offered.

"I know. I do too."

It was around an hour later when Reid started moving and whimpering again. It wasn't noticeable enough for the others, but it was to Hotch, as the man hadn't been asleep to begin with.

"I'm just worried with what he's been saying at night." Rossi commented, unable to let it go. "I mean, it sounds like he was attacked by someone."

"You can say that again."

"He was attacked?"

Derek sighed and rubbed at his temples. "Yes. That's all I'm going to say, now drop it. I mean it David. If you want to know, ask him politely tomorrow to tell you in short what happened, but don't force it out of him."

"Alright alright. I'll drop it." Rossi commented, heading to his go-bag and finding sleeping clothes.

Reid's head tossed around and he called out. "No... Stop!"

Morgan and Rossi both glanced over and Hotch raised his head a bit. "Reid, calm down." Hotch stated, surprised that his voice was as scratchy as it was. "You're safe." He said as his head fell back to his pillow. Morgan and Rossi shared a look. It was silent for a good ten more minutes, and the others were in their respective sleeping spots, 'tucked in' for the night.

"Get off me!" Reid called out again, sending a kick out to the air while Morgan and Rossi looked over again.

"Reid." Hotch tried again.

"No, please don't!"

The older man sighed and wrapped his arm around the young genius, pulling him in close and curling around him. "Spencer calm down. You're safe." He repeated.

"No..." Spencer called, shaking a bit.

"Yes." Aaron countered, tightening his grip for a second then relaxing it again.

Reid whimpered a bit but settled back down as his shaking stilled. Hotch let out a sigh and tried to go to sleep, wondering if he would be able to.

**(¯`·. CM .·´¯)**

On the jet Reid found himself unable to stop staring at his hands. His forefingers would run across his wrists and he was amazed that there were no bruises or ligature marks. That was probably why Eric covered his wrists with bandanas before he tied them, so he wouldn't leave marks like that. Reid supposed he should be thankful, after all, if he had walked away from it with marks on a part of his body that could be seen so easily, there would have been questions.

Rossi came up and sat beside him. "Hey kid. Listen, I know something happened to you, but I don't know what, and I really would like to know. I'm not gonna pry if you say no, but I just wanted you know that I don't feel comfortable knowing something bad happened to you and I can't do anything about it."

Reid glanced up to him. "You couldn't do anything about it even if you did know. He's dead." The young man stated simply before going back to one of the bathrooms.

Rossi blinked and shook his head, then went back to where he was sitting before. "You really shouldn't have done that." Hotch said.

"Why not?"

"Because he's not comfortable telling us. When he gets comfortable with it, he'll let us know." The man said with a piercing look.

JJ sighed. "You get one night back to your homes. We have another case starting tomorrow, Strauss' orders." She stated, closing her laptop.

Groans went around the plane. "What kind of case?" Reid asked, coming back out, wiping his hands down with a paper towel.

"Five women, all light brunette hair, found with their hands tied to their bedposts, their clothes ripped to shreds on the ground, raped, and their throats slashed. Low risk victims, white collar, decent jobs, close neighbors, good part of town."

"There goes my weekend of doing absolutely nothing." Hotch stated with a sigh.

Reid had stopped his ministrations and stared at the woman before shaking his head and tossing the paper towel. "I won't be going. I'm supposed to be visiting my mom Saturday."

"Spence, it's Friday. You should have said something earlier in the week." JJ scolded.

"Yeah I know, but I had expected the weekend to be free and didn't see a point in it." Reid stated.

Morgan, who knew the young man was lying, went over and had a short conversation with him, lowly so the others couldn't hear. It ended up with Reid glaring at the man angrily and rather loudly proclaiming, "Fine! I'll go." much to the surprise of the others.

**(¯`·. CM .·´¯)**

"Well, we've got three rooms available, all with two double beds in a cluster on the fourth floor. Would that work?" The chipper woman behind the desk at a Days Inn in Florida stated.

"Yes, that should be fine." Hotch stated, handing her a card.

"And how many nights are you going to be staying?" She asked.

"We aren't sure yet, just charge the card for each night that we don't check out."

"Alrighty, will do." She said with a smile. "Will anyone be taking breakfast in their rooms?"

"No."

"Okie dokie. Remember, the pool closes at 10, and if you break it, you buy it." She said with a wink, while handing the card back along with three keys.

"What was that wink about?" Reid asked making their way to the stairs. They really should put an elevator in this place.

"My guess is she assumes someone's gonna be getting it on." Morgan commented.

"She does know we're FBI, right?" Reid asked.

"Being FBI doesn't stop sex from happening." Emily said in a most amused tone.

Hotch shook his head and stood in front of the middle room. "Pick your rooms." He stated, tossing a key to JJ and a key to Rossi before heading in to the one he was standing in front of.

JJ grabbed Emily by the arm and led her to the room on the right. Well, that was easy. Reid looked at Morgan, then at Rossi. The older man hmm'd lightly to himself. "Morgan's the only one who doesn't complain about my snoring." He stated, motioning the man over to the other room. Derek shot Reid an apologetic look and Reid went into the second bedroom. Well, at least he wouldn't have to share beds this time, not that he really minded it to begin with.

"Can I get that one?" He asked, indicating the bed that Hotch was sitting on. It was off in a corner, up against walls on two sides.

Hotch shrugged. "Yeah sure." He said, taking his go-bag and heading to the other bed.

"Why didn't you want to come out on this case? What was the real reason?"

"I told you, I was supposed to visit my mom today."

"You and I both know that isn't true. Every time you go to visit your mom, you won't stop talking about it for a week before hand. What's going on Reid?"

"Just... this case, the victims... they're just..."

"They look like female versions of yourself." Hotch finished for him.

Actually Reid hadn't thought of that, but when it was pointed out, he saw that it was true. "Yeah, I guess." He said, hoping to get Hotch off of his back. "I think I'm going to head out by the pool for a few minutes."

Hotch raised an eyebrow. "We don't normally pack swimming trunks in our go-bags."

Reid smirked. "No, not to swim, just to scope it out. I like water, and sometimes when I can't sleep, I'll go sit by a pool, an ocean, a lake, any body of water if it's nearby. It's just too bad that we're not near the ocean."

"Alright. Wait, look over this menu and pick something, I'm gonna go get the others' orders too." Hotch said, tossing a menu over to the young man. Reid wrote down what he wanted and went out to look at the pool and see how he might be able to sneak to it after it closed. He fiddled with the lock and smiled. Easy to pick thanks to Elle's teachings.

By the time he made it back to his room, everybody else was piled in there, waiting on Hotch to get back. He went over to his bed, which was currently holding Emily and JJ, and climbed over them to lean against the wall, as this one had no head or footboard. He sat back trying to blend in with the wall.

Around ten minutes later, Hotch returned with several bags. He sat them on the table and started pulling out Styrofoam boxes. "Sushi platter with extra wasabi." He called out.

"Mine!" Emily responded.

"Peking Duck platter." "Mine." Rossi stated. "Crab Puffs and Veggie Chow Mein." "Mine." Morgan stated. "Empress Chicken and Egg Drop Soup." "Uhh, mine..." Reid said, getting up to go get it, but was shoved back down by JJ who handed it to him after Hotch handed it to her. "And this one's mine, so this must be yours." He said, handing the blonde her own box.

**(¯`·. CM .·´¯)**

Hotch was startled awake that night by Reid's call for Morgan. He looked around, half expecting the other man to be there, but when he the young man called again, Hotch realized he was still asleep.

"Derek get 'im off me!" Reid called out, tangling himself into his sheet.

Hotch trudged over to the other man's bed and sat on the edge of it. "Reid calm down." He tried.

"Get off get off get off!" The young genius very nearly screamed, kicking into the air.

This one was worse than the others it seemed. Hotch pulled Reid up and leaned against the wall at the head of the bed. "Calm down, you're safe." He said to the struggling form, wrapping his arm around Reid's chest and pulling him to rest on his own. He let his chin rest on the top of Spencer's head, kept his arms around the young man's chest, and let his legs lay on either side of his subordinate. "You're okay, you're safe." he stated, yawning.

"Derek?" Reid asked sleepily, a shiver going through his body.

"Aaron." The older man corrected.

Reid blinked and tilted his head back, looking in to the face of his supervisor. "Hotch?" He asked most confused.

"Yeah. You were having another nightmare. I know you normally bunk with Morgan, so none of us really see you at night, so I want to know how long you've been having these." He stated, not letting the young man loose.

"Since... since last Saturday." Spencer admitted with a yawn of his own.

"What happened Saturday?" Hotch asked.

"I don't really wanna talk about it." Reid said, stiffening a bit.

Hotch gave a light squeeze. "Okay. You don't have to. Just know I'll listen if you do, okay?" The only response he got was a nod.

And that was how they woke in the morning. Hotch sleeping slightly propped up against the wall with his arms around Reid, who was curled up and laying on his chest. Of course, it would have been fine, if Morgan hadn't came through the adjoining bathroom and woke them up in a rather jolting way by flopping down on to the bed and yanking their covers off. "Welcome to the land of the living sleepy heads."

Hotch growled and glared at him. "I should have locked that door."

Reid groaned and turned over, burying his face into Hotch's stomach. "Don't let him get me Derek."

Hotch raised an eyebrow and Morgan tilted his head. "Does he think he's laying on me?"

"I think so." The older man whispered.

"Don't let who get you, pretty boy?"

"Eric." Reid mumbled.

"Oh kid, he's not here, remember?" Morgan said, sorrow in his voice. Hotch watched curiously.

"He's still dead?"

Morgan winced lightly as Hotch gave him a glance. "Yeah, he's still dead."

"Mmm. You smell like Hotch's cologne." Reid stated assuredly.

Morgan laughed, glad at the other man's short attention span. "That's because you're laying on Hotch and I'm over to your right."

Reid jolted up and glanced around, his right hand slipping from beneath him and quickly grabbing the sheet for support. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry Sir!" He said as he scrambled off of the bed.

Aaron just looked more amused than anything. Over the last week, he was coming to terms with the fact that he seemed to care about Reid a bit more than the others, and a bit more than was appropriate. He was wondering about the repercussions if he were to act on his feelings and urges, but decided he would wait and see if Reid felt the same. In the mean time, he was quite content offering comfort from the nightmares that seemed to be coming on stronger. It was times like these he was glad he and Haley were divorced, as this would have been hell to try and explain to the woman. He could see it now, 'oh by the way Haley, I've been bi since school but never told you and I'm starting to have feelings for my subordinate'... Yeah, that would have gone over _real _well. "It's fine." He said finally.

Morgan just laughed and shook his head. "Kid you are coming on way strong." He stated, confusing Hotch a bit.

Reid glared at him from his go-bag. Well at least he seemed to know what Morgan was talking about. "I can't help it!" He said before storming off to the bathroom to change. Of course that didn't last long either, as he came right back out, wide-eyed and semi dazed. Hotch and Morgan looked at him strangely. "R.. Rossi's changing..." He said with a clearing of his throat.

Dave came through and sat down on the other bed within the room. "It's free." He stated with a most amused tone. Reid just blushed and quickly looked away as he scuttled into the bathroom. Morgan cracked up and even Hotch had to smile.

**(¯`·. CM .·´¯)**

He couldn't do this. Reid was sitting on a woman's couch, one of the victim's mothers, and she was asking questions. JJ was trying to answer them as PC as possible, but Reid wanted to yell at her. She had asked if they thought her daughter suffered any before she died. Of course, JJ was handling the question delicately, but Reid wanted to smack the woman and scream, 'She was raped you moron, of course she suffered!'. Instead, he sat there, trying desperately to control his irritation.

The coroner had told them earlier that day that she believed the women had their throats slashed during the rape, as they had several bruises on their thighs that wouldn't look as they did had they not been alive at the time it happened. Of course, the coroner _had _to say, 'The last thing they probably saw before they died was the guy holding a knife to their throats'. That sent him into mild flashbacks from the Saturday before.

He shook his head lightly and focused back on the conversation. The mother was literally begging for clarification. "So... there is a chance she didn't feel anything, right?"

"Mrs. Farven, it's hard to-"

"The probability that she didn't feel anything, based on the amount of _Rohypnol_ in her system, the time between when she was dosed and dead, and the brain's ability to shut down the sensors for pain would be 7.3%." Reid interrupted.

The woman blinked at him and JJ stared, unsure if she should reprimand him or not. "So... there _is _a chance that she didn't feel anything." The mother stated assuredly.

"A 7.3% chance." Reid repeated.

"Good." She stated, seeming to be a little more at ease.

Reid glared at her. "I'm going outside." He announced, storming off.

JJ ran after him, apologizing to the woman. "Reid, what the hell is wrong with you?" She hissed.

"That woman is so far in denial that even the most basic of factual of answers couldn't get through to her. Oh yeah sure, a 7.3% chance she didn't feel a thing, that leaves you with a 92.7% chance that she _did _feel **everything**! It is so much more likely that she felt every grip, every smack, every thrust, and the slash across her neck than it is that she didn't." He hissed back. "That woman is holding on to one of the most incredibly unlikely shreds of... of... GAH! She just needs to get a grip and look at reality!"

"Calm down!" JJ demanded. "It's like you're emotionally involved with this case Spence, you need to calm down and find out why you're acting like this."

"I don't need to find out anything, I already know." Reid stated, digging in his messenger bag and pulling out a book. "Go fill her head with the statistically improbable hope that her daughter was 'fine and dandy' while she was being brutally raped and murdered. I'll be back in when I think I can look at her without yelling at her."

JJ's brows knitted together in concern, but she went back inside. Reid eventually came back in and apologized for his outburst, but the woman dismissed it saying that it was nice to have some sort of confirmation that there was a chance her daughter hadn't felt anything. This, of course, angered Spencer even more, but he didn't let it show.

It was a very angry Reid that was found at the hotel that evening. He wasn't even in the room he and Hotch were sharing, no, his superior found him out by the pool around 11 pm, letting his feet dangle in the water. "You okay?" Aaron asked, taking a seat in a chair near the young man.

"No." Reid answered simply.

"Well that was surprising. Not that you're not okay, but that you admitted it."

"I see no point in lying, especially considering you already knew the answer before you asked the question."

"You want to talk about it?"

"Not over especially."

"Alright."

"I assume JJ already told you what happened."

"Everything."

Reid was silent for a few minutes and his grip on the pool's side tightened. "So you probably know then."

"I made an educated guess." Hotch admitted. "That what the nightmares have been about?"

"Yeah. When do you want the psyche eval done?"

"I don't."

Spencer turned around with a confused look on his face. "But that's standard procedure, every member of the bureau is supposed to undergo a psyche eval when they've have something traumatic happen, and not ordering one when you know one of your team has went through a rape could get you fired."

"It's procedure, yes, but it's not a rule. Most people don't have the ability to shut off the memories like you do, so I don't see a point in ordering a psyche eval."

"I think I've proven today that I can't just 'shut them off'." The young man scoffed.

"You proved today that you're human, and dealing with a woman who was clinging to her delusions about her daughter's well being during her last moments was a trigger for the memories. It's hard not to remember something that happened when you're continuously surrounded by people talking about it, even in reference to something else."

"It's not just that though. At the coroner's office, when she said that the last thing that girl probably saw was her attacker hovering over her with a knife... my memories flooded through. I could understand that girl's fear, her anguish, because I'd been in that situation just a week ago."

Aaron's brows lowered. "He had a knife?"

"Yeah..."

"And you're sure he's dead, right?"

"Yeah, Morgan shot him in the head. It actually took out a chunk of his skull."

"Good."

"It landed on me you know."

Hotch felt his shoulders droop. "The bit of his skull?"

"Yeah. Landed on my chest. Right before his hand dropped and the knife nicked me in the stomach, right before I felt him sliding out of me because gravity was pulling his body backwards thanks to the way he was leaning when he was shot. I guess I should be thankful he wasn't leaning forward, or else he would have slumped over on me." Reid said with a shiver.

He felt arms go around his torso and legs slide around his as he was pulled up against the man's chest. That comfort made him lose it, and he started crying. Not because of the comfort, but because he knew that Hotch just didn't think of him like he thought of the man. "Please stop... I can't... I can't stand it."

"Stand what?" Hotch asked curiously.

"The fact that you're wrapped around me and there's absolutely nothing more than familial concern. The fact that you've been the one comforting me, that I've woken up in your arms, something I've wished for for a while now, and there's not been even a smidgen of the type of care one would give their significant other. The fact that-"

Hotch cut him off by turning his face around and meeting the other man's lips with his own. It was soft, no tongue, and no rush, just a simple kiss to let him know he cared. He leaned his head back and looked at the young man with a slightly tilted head. "Who said I didn't think of you like that?"

"You kissed me." Reid stated, bringing his hand to his mouth.

Hotch smiled. "Yes I did, and I'd do it again too."

"You kissed me." Spencer repeated, looking the man in the eye. "But you're straight... You were married and-"

"I'm bi." Hotch said as his eyebrows raised in mild amusement. Reid threw his arms around the older man's neck, sending them both backwards, and gave a kiss of his own, tongue included.

That was how Rossi and Morgan found them. Lying on the poolside, Aaron's legs bent over the edge and feet dangling in the water being careful to keep his hands from roaming by holding them securely on the waist above him, Reid on top of him with his arms under the other man's head acting as a pillow, snogging like teenagers.

"Finally." Rossi stated, causing Reid to jump and look up sheepishly, and Hotch to growl lightly, tilting his head back and glaring upside-down at the man.

"Glad to see you finally got what you wanted, pretty boy." Morgan said with a small satisfied smirk. "The girls are waiting up in your room. They're arguing over what to do for supper."

Reid sighed and lowered his head, hair framing both of their faces. He gave one last kiss to the man, a simple peck, but Hotch deepened it at the last second, not caring if the others saw or not. When they broke apart, Reid got up and helped Hotch up, then groaned semi-irritatedly. "My pant legs are soaked."

"So are mine." Aaron stated, glancing down at them.

"We can't hide this from them."

"What's there to hide? They're profilers, they'd figure it out eventually. Not to mention I'd rather not have to worry about who's watching and who knows or doesn't know."

"But the rules-"

"They aren't rules, they're guidelines that are suggested by our superiors which don't have to be followed." Morgan corrected. "That's why me and Penelope aren't exactly secretive about it."

"What he said." Hotch stated, draping his arm around the young man's shoulders, as Reid grabbed on to his shirt while they walked back to their room.

Spencer blinked. "Hey, you're not wearing the jacket."

"Yeah, I figured I'd be going to bed soon and there was no reason to walk out to the pool with a 3 piece suit on." Hotch said, opening the door to their room.

"Does this mean I can get Garcia to retrieve that picture of you two holding hands while you were asleep from my phone?" Morgan asked, going in first followed by Rossi.

"I deleted that though." Reid said as they walked through and the girls stared slack-jawed at Reid who was, in essence, clinging to Hotch, who had his arm wrapped around the other man.

"Yeah, but as Penelope says, 'once something's put into an electronic device like that, it can always be recovered'." Morgan quoted.

"Go ahead then." Reid said with a nod. "I want a copy."

Hotch removed his arm and sat on his bed, as Reid's bed was currently overrun by astonished women and a smirking Morgan. He leaned against the one wall that the bed was touching, at the head of it, and held out his arm, which Reid promptly positioned himself to curl in to. "So." Aaron said, looking to the girls. "What are we going to do about supper?"

**(¯`·. CM .·´¯)**

That night, when Reid crawled into bed, he was slightly surprised to feel the other side of it dip down as Hotch crawled in behind him. "I don't... I don't really know if I feel comfortable with anything more than... well... kissing and holding right now." The young man said, afraid he would upset the other.

Hotch simply leaned his head in and pressed a soft kiss to the back of the genius' neck. "Don't worry. I don't put out until the 5th date." He said as he wrapped his arm around the young man's torso and pulled him close. He had to fight not to chuckle when Reid squeaked.

That night was the first night since the Saturday before that Spencer Reid slept peacefully, without a nightmare, without waking anyone else up, and without thinking about... well... let's not ruin it, shall we?


End file.
